SNATCHED ON A TRAIN

High-Tech Thief Targets Women On Trains

by Robert Pozarycki

The suspected thief behind a series of robberies and grand larcenies on subway trains in Forest Hills, Rego Park, Woodside and Downtown Brooklyn. Police are asking the public’s help in tracking down a manwanted for swiping high-tech devices from women on boardsubway trains traveling through Forest Hills, Rego Park,Woodside and Downtown Brooklyn.

The NYPD released last Wednesday, Dec. 19, a surveillance camera image of the perpetrator, who is described as an African-American male between 25 and 30 years of age, standing 6’1”-tall and weighing between 180 and 190 lbs. In one of the incidents, he was observed wearing a red jacket.

According to law enforcement sources, in four of the capers, the crook snatched or removed by force high-tech items such as cell phones or iPads from victims on trains as they approached stations. After the trains stopped and the doors opened, the suspect fled out of the train in an unknown direction.

In the fifth and most recent incident, which occurred on Dec. 11 at the 67th Avenue station on the R line in Rego Park, the bandit allegedly punched a 16-year-old girl in the face and removed her cell phone as she walked up the stairs on her way out of the stop, police said.

Reportedly, the first incident took place on Nov. 16 at around 6:25 p.m., when the bandit pulled an iPad out of the hands of a 26-year-old woman on board a Manhattan-bound E train at the 75th Avenue station in Forest Hills.

Five days later on Nov. 21, authorities said, the crook forcibly robbed a 19-year-old female of her iPhone as they rode a Manhattanbound E train as it pulled into Forest Hills’ 71st-Continental Avenue station.

Later that day, police noted, the perpetrator traveled to Downtown Brooklyn, where he pulled a phone out of the hands of a 28-year-old woman on a Manhattan-bound F train as it pulled into the Jay Street station at around 9:42 p.m.

Two days before the Dec. 11 robbery and assault in Rego Park, law enforcement sources stated, the suspect snatched a cell phone from a 28- year-old woman on a Manhattan-bound R train as it enmates tered the 65th Street station in Woodside at around 12:20 p.m. on Dec. 9.

The investigation is ongoing, police said.

Anyone with any information regarding the pattern of thefts or the suspect’s whereabouts that could prove helpful is asked to contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800- 577-TIPS, by text message to 274637 (enter information, then the code TIP577) or online at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.